KCSD reaches agreement on five-year teachers' pact

06/14/2016 11:41AM
● By Steven Hoffman

The Kennett Consolidated School
District has reached an agreement with the Kennett Education
Association on a new five-year teachers' pact.

The Kennett School Board approved the
deal on May 23, while members of the Kennett Education Association
ratified the agreement with a “yes” vote on May 18. The contact
was negotiated over a six-month period.

“We, the Kennett Consolidated School
community, are ecstatic to have reached an amicable settlement with
the Kennett Education Association for the next five years,” said
superintendent Dr. Barry Tomasetti in a statement. “It clearly
demonstrates our common goal to put kids first.”

The new contract calls for salary
increases of 4 percent during the 2016-2017 school year, 2.25 percent
in 2017-2018, 2.5 percent in 2018-2019, 2.6 percent in 2019-2020, and
2.7 percent in 2020-2021. These increases are inclusive of step
movement and off-schedule bonuses. Educational credit adjustments
have been limited to two moves over the five years of the contract.

Officials involved with the
negotiations on both sides talked about working cooperatively to
reach a deal that is good for both the school district and for the
taxpayers in the district.

“The Kennett Consolidated School
Board is very pleased that we have approved a contract which is a win
for all stakeholders—our taxpayers, our teachers and faculty, and,
most importantly, our students,” said school board president Kendra
LaCosta. “The efforts of the Kennett Education Association and the
Kennett Consolidated School District administration to work
respectfully toward such an agreement highlights the commitment of
all involved.”

Tomasetti said, “Throughout the
negotiations process it was important for us to balance the financial
constraints of the taxpayers with the need to recruit, retain, and
reward highly qualified and dedicated professionals. With the
contract behind us, united, we are committed to serving our
community's educational needs.”

Michael Kelly, the president of the
Kennett Education Association, said, “I am pleased that both
parties were able to accomplish the goal of a more positive round of
negotiations that culminated in a win-win contract for both parties.
Both sides are to be commended for their hard work and commitment to
this goal.”

In addition to the aforementioned
agreement on salary increases, the new contract also includes changes
in the benefits package that will result in savings to the district.
In order to control costs, the prescription drug plan will change to
a 5/30/45 premium plan with a 30-day maximum supply. Also, the
district has moved to a single, unified medical plan. The medical
benefit for fiscal years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 is the Independence
Blue Cross Personal Choice 20/30/70 plan. Effective on July 1, 2018,
the medical plan will move to an Independence Blue Cross flex plan.
Employees will contribute 12 percent toward the cost of the medical
premiums.

The new contact will impact the budget
moving forward, and the school board unanimously adopted a final
budget of $81,793,364 for the 2016-2017 school year at its meeting on
June 13. This is slightly less than the $82.2 million preliminary
budget that was previously adopted.

School board member Michael Finnegan
said that the Finance Committee recently reviewed the budget for the
final time before making its recommendation on a final spending plan.
He explained that the final budget being recommended by the committee
was about $450,000 less than the preliminary budget that the board
adopted five months ago. A significant portion of that expenditure
reduction came from decreases in salaries and benefits due to
retirements. The district projects to save about $119,000 for the
next school year as a result of these retirements.

Overall, the school taxes are going up
2.23 percent, Finnegan said, and the average homeowner in the
district will see a hike of $116 in the tax bill. The millage rate
will increase from 28.6017 mills to 29.2408 mills to balance the
budget.

Finnegan said that the budget meets the
district's academic needs.

“The district continues to implement
programs to challenge and engage students in the learning process,”
he said. “The STEM program continues to be a success, and
additional program offerings are being scheduled for 2016-2017. The
budget includes two new certificated teaching positions, which will
be utilized in the most effective manner possible to address academic
concerns.”

Some of the items impacting the budget
include salary increases and hikes in employee benefits that can be
attributed largely to increases in the state-mandated Public School
Employee Retirement System (PSERS) costs. Finnegan said that employee
benefits are increasing by slightly more than $2 million as the
contribution rate now stands at more than 30 percent.

“Just eight years ago,” Finnegan
explained, “the state-determined contribution rate was under five
percent. It has exponentially increased each year since then to reach
the level it is set at for next year. These huge annual increases had
to be absorbed into our budgets for each of these years.”

The good news, Finnegan said, is that
the contribution rate is now at its peak level so there won't be
significant year-to-year increases in the next few years.

Charter school funding continues to
increase for the Kennett Consolidated School District—by
approximately $300,000 for the next school year—due to a higher
than normal number of charter school students receiving special
education, Finnegan said.

He also expressed his concerns that the
state budget, which was delayed by more than nine months for the
current fiscal year, will continue to be an issue as state lawmakers
fail to meet the deadlines for approving a state budget. “There has
been little movement from the State Legislature to approve a
2016-2017 state budget,” he explained. “The lack of immediacy on
behalf of the state leadership to adopt timely budgets jeopardizes
the district's ability to make sound financial decisions.”

In other business at the June 13
meeting, the school board approved an agreement with the Krapf Bus
Company to continue handling student transportation. The district
originally outsourced its student transportation to Krapf Bus Company
in 2006. The new agreement extends for five years, beginning on Aug.
1, 2016.

The school district is seeking a waiver
from the land-development plan requirement for the construction of a
new baseball field at the middle school. In exchange for New Garden
Township granting that waiver, the district is agreeing to maintain
the trees being planted around the baseball field to serve as a
screen. The school district is also agreeing to maintain the rain
garden.

The school board will meet again at 7
p.m. on Monday, July 11 at the Mary D. Lang Kindergarten Center.